Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
Modified: 2020-04-21
Maslow was one of the most influential of the humanistic personality
theorists. Ironically, his early history would not have predicted
that, because Maslow was influenced by Watson, trained by Harlow, and
a colleague of Thorndike's. The birth of Maslow's first child
radically disabused him of behaviorist theories. Then, he began to
frequent Adler's weekly home seminars. Also in attendance were Fromm
and Horney. The intimate contact with such high-powered thinkers led
him to formulate his notions of self actualization.
He created, with Rogers and others, a "third-force" in psychology,
humanistic psychology. As Maslow saw it, a humanistic psychologist:
- Has no use for animal research
- Believed that subjective reality is the key to personality
- Promotes the study of individuals, not groups
- Discovers things that enriched human experience
- Conducts applied research to alleviate human problems
- Believes that a complete description of humans required more
than science
In addition, Maslow's hierarchy of needs served as a blueprint for
research. Higher order needs are of more interest than the lower
order ones. Also, the characteristics of those rare self-actualized
people was of much research interest. Together, Maslow and Rogers
created the humanist paradigm, almost entirely by themselves.
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